Soundtrack of Their Lives
by Designated NPC
Summary: An ongoing series of drabbles done in keeping with the 10 Songs meme. Most of them follow canon; those that don't are marked. Rated T for violence because I'm paranoid. Also, the title sucks. If you've got any suggestions, let me know?
1. Chapter 1

**Meme:** 10 Songs, 10 Drabbles

**Theme:** Memori & Yuuki

**Source:** Game x Rush

**Genre:** Gen/Multiple (Romantic, Platonic, A/U, ect)

* * *

**01.** _Everytime We Touch_, Cascada

_'What does it mean to miss someone?'_

Memori had no idea, and that was probably just another example of how his life - strange as it was - didn't actually suck. He'd never really had to miss anyone, not anyone who mattered: His parents had retired, but he still saw them. Himiko-san was over almost every day. And God knew that Ken wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

Memori didn't remember his birth parents at all, and he knew that was for the best even after he actually had to remember them.

But now...

Memori couldn't help dwelling, even as he firmly told himself to stop acting like a lovesick schoolgirl or a character in a shoujo manga, which he most definitely was not. But Yuuki had been gone for a year now, and although he hadn't been in Memori's life for long, it still felt as though there was something very important now gone from the world.

Which was stupid, of course; Yuuki wasn't dead or anything, he was just gone. Finding yourself, or whatever one did when one walked the earth. He'd be back sometime, that Memori had to believe: He couldn't make himself consider that maybe Yuuki was gone for good.

There'd been a reason for them to meet, after all. So, Yuuki couldn't stay gone forever.

Yuuki would show up again someday, probably at the exact moment that no-one thought he would, and Memori would be able to get on with his life without that nagging feeling of something still being awry.

_Missing someone is never admitting that they're truly gone._

_

* * *

_

**02.** _Metal Man, Made of Metal_, Hyadain

All that he needed was Yuki-san.

Obviously.

Since he'd been nine years old, and he'd realized that he just couldn't live in that house anymore, and Yuki-san had saved him-

Well, that was it, wasn't it? He'd been in love with her for almost a decade, and that wasn't going to change, no matter how many pretty girls threw themselves at him while he was around town, whichever town they were in at the time.

His heart, for whatever it was worth, belonged to Yuki-san... Even if it would always been in secret, even from her.

Besides, these girls didn't love Yuuki; they loved the idea they saw in him, the smiles and the laughter and the kind eyes. They should be grateful that he left them before they could find out the truth, and have the pretty image of their 'blond prince' smashed into bitter pieces.

Yuuki didn't need anyone but Yuki-san.

He'd thought at first that was why he liked Memori-chan, because the guy looked so much like Yuki-san. But in the end, that too turned out to be only a surface resemblance: Where Yuki-san was gentle and loving and kind, Memori-chan was short-tempered and humorless and prone to punching Yuuki in the face (never mind if Yuuki returned the favor).

Where Yuki-san's heart was filled with that quiet madness, Memori-chan was a truly stainless person, and his hands were clean.

Not like Yuki-san at all.

Not like Yuuki, either.

In the end, Yuuki figured that he probably loved Memori-chan for everything that he was, and mostly for everything that Memori wasn't.

* * *

**03.** _The Trail We Blaze_, Elton John

[Oh god, I can't believe we're doing this...]

The pilot looked back, glancing at the man who was now muttering to himself in Japanese; behind his goggles, an eyebrow rose, and the man's companion grinned and waved it off.

"Don't mind him," said the blond. "He just doesn't like trying new things."

The first man glared, then seemed to resist punching the second in the arm, restraining himself to a perfectly-understandable "Shut up, Yuuki."

"See?" Yuuki shrugged with a smile. "He'll be fine. Hey, will we make it to the summit before nightfall? We're gonna have a hike ahead of us, you know."

The helicopter dropped both passengers off at the top of the mountain, lowering the men and their gear to the thick green carpet before taking off again. Yuuki saluted as the 'copter pulled up and out of sight, shrinking in size and disappearing, and then he turned to Memori, who was already shrugging into his backpack.

"I told you it wouldn't be that bad, Memori-chan."

Memori glared, already half-regretting his decision to come along on Yuuki's latest world-traveling jaunt.

_If you're gonna disappear again, don't think I'm not coming with you!_

... And it had seemed like such a good idea at the time, too.

"Let's just get down to the base camp," said Memori, trying hard to remain scowling. "And then we'll see how bad this is really going to be."

* * *

**04.** _Check Yes, Juliet_, We The Kings

It was incessant, that irritating sound. Not like cicadas, but like...

Something against the window.

... _Dammit_.

Memori shoved off his covers and crawled out of the futon, standing up and opening the window. One hand shot out and caught the pebble a moment before it passed into the room, and looking down Memori could see blond hair turning gold in the light of the streetlamps.

"... What're you doin' here?"

Yuuki frowned, almost a pout; with a handful of pebbles still ready to be thrown, he whined "Memori-chan, what a way to greet me! After three years!"

"Yeah," snorted Memori, "Three years after _you_ left. I didn't say you could come back to wake me up at midnight."

"But you did say I could come back, right?"

A pause, and Memori - looking down from the second floor - couldn't help but grin. It was all he could do not to laugh, because right now Yuuki reminded him more like a puppy than a once-killer, even though the intervening years had made Yuuki taller than ever.

_'But a puppy's still a puppy, isn't it?'_

"You're too old now to pull off that sad puppy face," commented Memori, and he was shrugging into a jacket as from below, Yuuki's complaints drifted up through the summer night:

"Now I'm a dog again? What's with you people turning me into animals, Memori-chan?"

* * *

**05.** _Just The Girl_, The Click 5

_'This probably isn't normal, is it?'_

The question was purely rhetorical, partially because there was no-one else around and partially because Yuuki already knew the answer.

No, there was nothing normal about having the person you liked push you off the balcony into the shrubbery in the midst of your romantic serenade.

Then again, there probably wasn't much normal about deciding to sing _Watashi no Tamagoyaki_ in the middle of the night outside your shared motel-room anyway.

_'Still,'_ thought Yuuki, disentangling himself from the sheared-off branches, _'you'd think Memori-chan would have a bigger appreciation for music.'_

A grin tugged at his lips as he got to his feet, brushing snapped-off twigs and stray leaves from his clothing. On the other hand, the fall hadn't been high... And it had totally been worth it for the look on Memori's face.

A soft crush of grass made Yuuki turn, and Memori plucked a withering leaf from Yuuki's hair with an equally withering look.

"What've we learned, huh?" queried Memori, not looking at all hypothetical. "Anything about not doing stupid things in the middle of the night?"

"Aw, Memori-chan," grinned Yuuki, "can't you at least call it romantic?"

**_"NO CHANCE IN HELL!"_**

... But even so, the faint pink in Memori's cheeks convinced Yuuki that it had been worth the trouble.

* * *

**06.** _Hajimari no Kaze_, Hirahara Ayaka

Everyone involved - that is, Ken and Himiko-san and Sayako - knew that Yuuki had left; Sayako would have guessed it anyway, even if Himiko hadn't told her.

None of them knew that Yuuki was writing, to Memori anyway, and Memori kept it that way for reasons he couldn't exactly define.

It made him feel better, though, knowing that Yuuki was still out there- Probably as infuriating as ever, and as annoying, and...

Well, Memori figured that it was good to know that Yuuki was still alive. Even if he was annoying. And even if he didn't write all that much to begin with.

In truth, all Memori got were postcards, sent irregularly, of places and dates far-flung from sub-urban Japan. The locations were strange, and all over the map: New York City, Belize, Munich, New Zealand, Zimbabwe. Sometimes Memori thought he'd have a heart-attack reading those things, especially the ones that had a casual 'Oh, and don't worry about the civil war'-like byline scrawled in. Memori had been counting the number of times he'd have to smack Yuuki once the other got back.

But the postcards made Memori feel better, even if they really shouldn't have. Yuuki was still out there; Yuuki was still planning to come back. Even though that shouldn't have made Memori feel better, it did.

Ridiculously so.

And sometimes, Ken or Sayako would remark that Memori was being stupidly happy around the office.

And Himiko would smile, doing research on something or other.

And one day in Egypt, Yuuki would sit in a Cairo bar and read a telegram that had been sent from Japan, one which made him smile.

All it said was "Thank you for keeping your promise."

* * *

**07.** _I'm Still Here_, Johnny Rzeznik

When he was still a young boy, and already thinking about things that young boys weren't supposed to have to think about, Yuuki used to wonder if he really existed.

Of course, everything existed if people said it existed, because they could name it. So Yuuki had asked Yuki-san.

"Yuki-san, do I... exist?"

And Miyuki had looked at Yuuki with that look of concern in her soft, dark eyes, and she'd stopped doing the dishes to tilt her head at the child and say "Of course you exist, Memori. You're my precious little boy."

And Yuuki had nodded, and Miyuki, satisfied, had gone back to the dishes. And Yuuki, who after all wasn't Memori, figured it meant that he didn't exist. Because Yuki-san had been talking to Memori, who... wasn't him.

No matter how hard he tried to be.

Years passed, and life went on, and the darkness and the cold in Yuuki's heart continued to grow. Every time Miyuki called him by that other name, every time she looked at him with love in her eyes, a little bit of Yuuki died.

Eventually, he thought, everything that was Yuuki would die away. And when that happened, maybe what was left would finally be Memori.

Then he'd really met the real Memori, and the real Yuuki didn't want to fade away anymore.

* * *

**08.** _When Somebody Loved Me_, Sarah McLaclan

Even after Yuuki had gone to live with Miyuki, he still hadn't been a very social child. He stayed at home, mostly, when he wasn't going to school; and as time passed, he learned to smile and be charming and teachers loved him, but he showed no interest in the other students. He said, of course, that he'd rather be at home with Yuki-san, but...

He'd spent too long being the hated child to forget it so easily.

Until that day, when some weird kid with a dog strapped to his back had jumped off a brick wall and knocked both himself and Yuuki down.

Even though this boy looked just like Yuki-san, that wasn't why Yuuki had fun that day.

He'd never really been able to play with another kid his age, until that day. It was... nice.

It was the happiest day he'd had since Yuki-san had found him.

It would be the happiest day he'd have for a long time.

* * *

**09.** _How Crazy Are You?_, Meja

Memori hated the beach, absolutely hated it. Possibly it stemmed from childhood trauma, when Ken had pretended to be a sea monster and half-drowned a ten-year-old Memori; possibly it was because Memori typically had all the color of a sheet of paper, and therefore tended to burn rather than tan. Whatever the case, Memori usually made it his mission to avoid sand, surf, and directly sunlight as often as possible.

Which is why, as he huddled under the umbrella and tried to ignore the feeling of clothing sticking to his skin, he cursed his long-latent carelessness which only recently had begun to force him into stupid situations.

Like going to the beach, because Yuuki had shown up on his doorstep with ticket vouchers to the seaside for the whole family.

Like agreeing to watch their spot while everyone ran off to have fun, leaving Memori with no choice but to stay put no matter what.

Like the fact that, from where he was, Memori could literally see nothing but Yuuki and his impromptu beach volleyball game, and the girls mooning over Yuuki's, er...

... Skills.

Yeah.

Memori mentally berated himself for letting his mind wander, refusing to acknowledge that the flush creeping up his cheeks stemmed from anything besides the summer heat. Which naturally made Memori think of his own burning-not-tanning skin. Which wasn't a problem that Yuuki seemed to have, judging by the oh-so-perfect tan that, coupled with the wind-mussed hair now bleaching blond in the sunlight, sent all the girls swooning in perfectly understandable glee-

_'OH GOD **NO**,'_ was Memori's sudden, aghast halt to that line of thinking. _'Bad bad bad bad-'_

He shut his eyes and wished fervently for winter, and was irritated at himself for only being able to half-wish at that.

* * *

**10.** _Sakura Kiss_, Kawabe Chieko

_'I am not in a school manga, I am not in a school manga, I am not in a school manga...'_

That was Memori's recurring mantra, the only thing that kept him sane, as one by one the bastions of normalcy were cheerfully knocked aside by one Yuuki Shin.

First, there was the mysterious transfer student... Who turned out, of course, to be Yuuki.

Then, there was the way said student hit it off with everyone, but insisted on calling Memori '-chan', leading the rumor-mill to hit the ground running as though it had been injected with nitro.

And then there'd been the school festivals, the projects, the field-trips, all of which had paired Yuuki with Memori with such regularity that Memori was beginning to think that Yuuki had been bribing or threatening someone on the staff.

It even happened when it didn't make any sense! They were in different grades, after all, and taking different courses, but whenever Memori would ask - irately, at best - what Yuuki was doing there _this_ time, Yuuki would just smile and say:

"It must be fate, right, Memori-chan?"

And then Memori would want to kill him all over again.

Oh, and they were roommates too, of course. That part had... taken some getting used to.

But... not as much as Memori had thought.

Not even when-

Well, maybe now there was some grain of truth to those rumors after all.

* * *

**Author's Note:** All right, so- To those of you who remember me, never fear! My other fics will soon be updated; however, I've been away for quite some time, so the stuff I've written in the interim will be going up first, mostly because I never managed to finish the first round of re-writes due to RL reasons. That said, Game X Rush: Check it out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Meme:** 10 Songs, 10 Drabbles

**Theme:** Memori & Yuuki

**Source:** Game X Rush

**Genre:** Gen/Multiple (Romantic, Platonic, A/U, ect)

* * *

**01.** _Mandlebrot Set_, Jonathan Coulton [School A/U]

"So, the Mandlebrot Set is actually..." Memori stopped mid-sentence, noting with irritation that Yuuki was completely failing to pay attention... again.

Doing his best not to scowl, Memori instead deliberately - but very calmly! - snapped his pencil in half. When Yuuki failed to respond to _that_, Memori flicked the eraser-having end at the center of Yuuki's forehead, where it impacted with accuracy and a fairly satisfying sound.

"OW! Memori-chan!"

"Don't 'Ow,' you idiot," retorted Memori; "Like you haven't been hurt worse than that."

"But, Memori-_CHAN~_"

"Stop whining, Yuuki." Massaging his temples, Memori closed his eyes and sighed. "You have to pass the exam or you're getting held back, right? That's what this whole mess is about, right? That's why I'm tutoring you, right?

"And if that's the case, don't you think it'd be a little productive if you, dunno, actually _PAID ATTENTION_ to the material instead of zoning out like whatever you're doing?"

Yuuki blinked, then grinned.

"I have been paying attention! Like, that formula you've been describing is actually the Julia Set..."

"No, it's not."

A pause, and then a faint rippling noise as Memori hastily flipped back to his text book. The next few seconds was mostly Memori swearing, and Yuuki - chin propped up on one hand - choosing that time to pay attention.

* * *

**02.** _Rebel Son_, Survivor [Mafia A/U]

There were a lot of other things that Yuuki could be doing, besides killing people for a living.

He always thought he'd like to go into acting. He figured he'd gotten enough practice.

But what the hell? Might as well kill people who deserved it, right? That's almost like being a hero of justice, except maybe darker, and therefore more real. God knows no-one's getting anything done without a strong arm to back up their ideals.

So even Yuuki didn't think he was much of a good guy, hey, he could've been worse. Arguably, if he'd stayed with the old man's gang, he'd be doing the same thing- Just, you know, to people who didn't really need to be offed. Yuuki only accepted jobs that he wouldn't feel bad about in the morning, and honestly, that was a hell of a lot more than anyone in the old gang had ever bothered to do.

Plus, it pissed his old man off something crazy, which was another good reason for Yuuki to pursue the profession of vigilante.

No-one ever complained, either.

At least, none of the people who really counted.

People were actually starting to call him a Hero.

Tscha, yeah, right.

But they liked him way more than they did the government men, the guys who were _supposed_ to keep law and order and fluffy bunnies for everyone, at least that's how it had been going until they'd picked up the new guy. Fujieda, right? Memori? What a stupid name. Way too fairy tale-ish for Yuuki's tastes.

Yeah.

Fairy tales always did piss Yuuki off.

* * *

**03.** _Hol Om Mig_, Nanette Grovall [Dark A/U]

There was a reason that he'd come tonight- Something besides what he'd read on the mission sheet.

Was he supposed to kill Yuuki?

... No, that didn't seem right. Kill Yuuki? Why? He wasn't a bad guy, after all; he didn't want to kill. Memori knew that now, although he had no way of convincing anyone else, but Memori knew. Wasn't that enough reason?

Yuuki had said it was, but Memori couldn't remember what that reason was supposed to be for.

... He was sure he was supposed to kill _someone_, though. The weight in his right hand said that much.

Like mist melting before the sun, Memori recalled his reason for following Yuuki, and for staking out the place until Yuuki left the next day; he hadn't come for Yuuki, he'd come for _her_. His mother, Memori supposed- His birth mother, at any rate, but not his mother in any other way. She was mad, insane, though he couldn't blame her for that; no more than Memori could forgive her for making Yuuki a murderer.

Yes, that was it. It was unforgivable.

Because Yuuki had followed her orders, and Ken was-

Ken was-

Yuuki. Even though there was so much blood on his hands, Memori could still have forgiven him. _Had_ forgiven him, in fact, because even with the smoking gun still gripped in his hand Yuuki had been crying so terribly, like a frightened child.

Memori hadn't yet processed Ken's death, so at that time he'd just been scared for Yuuki's sake. He'd tried to get closer, but-

... What had happened, again?

Why was he carrying Yuuki's gun?

... Oh, of course: He had to find Miyuki and take care of her, one last time. She'd depended so much on Yuuki, had warped his life with her gentle poison, and the worst part was that she didn't even realize it, so she couldn't stop. For Yuuki's sake, Memori needed to stop Miyuki for good.

So many people would be dead by sunrise.

After Memori took care of Miyuki, he promised himself, the first thing he'd do was go see Yuuki again.

* * *

**04.** _Motteke! Se-ra-fuku_, Hirano Aya, Kato Emiri, Fukuhara Kaori, Endo Aya [Genderswap]

"Mimori-_chan~_"

Mimori's immediate response - to dodge like mad, or flip the offender over her shoulder - was stymied; Yuuki was _fast_, and by now was used to Mimori's... less-than-thrilled reaction to unexpected welcomes. When Mimori spun on her heel and threw out a high kick, Yuuki dodged, blonde hair trailing behind her like a comet's tail, and threw herself at Mimori.

"Mimori-chan, you're so mean to me!" pouted Yuuki, clinging to Mimori's neck with a clearly falsified pout. "Kicking people in the head isn't very lady-like, you know!"

"G-Get off me!" ordered Mimori, tugging futilely at the short sleeves of Yuuki's modified uniform, aware of the flaming blush threatening to rise in her cheeks. "Don't jump all over me in the halls! Talk about unladylike... !"

"But Mimori-chan!" Yuuki pulled back, hazel eyes sparkly in a way that Memori _knew_ belied her evil, _evil_... **_EVIL_** nature. "I had to run all the way across the campus to make it here in time!"

Snuggling up against the shorter girl's side, Yuuki held a hand delicately to her cheek as she said "But I couldn't miss your big performance! You'll make the best prince ever, since you already look like a boy~"

"I'm going to _kill_ you, Shiina..." was all that Mimori could get out, still working vigorously to pry the underclassman off of her before the surrounding guys passed out from bloodloss via nosebleed.

* * *

**05.** _Body Breakdown_, Dragonforce [Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy]

On the horizon, the setting sun was dyed red with blood, and not in any metaphorical way- The sky-cities had taken the second-heaviest losses in the Fourteen-Day Battle, and they had fallen to Amaterasu's forces. Now the blood of millions was pouring from the cities in the sky, drenching the image of the falling star in crimson shades.

It was hard not to believe that this really would be the end of all things.

Memori stirred the embers of the fire, raising them to life again; the wind was cooling in anticipation of the night, and around the campground countless fires were being similarly prepared for the night. Since the siege at Yama-no-Higurashi, the stars had - one by one - flickered out like candles in the face of a storm-gale, and now there was no source of light visible at all after sunset.

The moon was gone too, and would be for the foreseeable future. Yami-Ou would make sure that it was gone forever, if something could not be done.

If tomorrow's assault failed.

Yuuki crested the hill, bandanna caught in the twisting breeze; keen eyes would note that the crimson color was not a trick of the light, or a chosen dye, but the color of rusting blood- His wound had bled heavily but it wasn't deep, and he smiled like a dragonfly as he met Memori's eyes.

"We'll be ready," he said, and it was enough to make even Memori believe him. "They'll be ready." And he nodded over his shoulder at the legions who followed them, at all of those who remained- They, the ground forces, had taken too many losses over the past months, but even so they outnumbered even the armies of the gods.

Who were whittling themselves down anyway, so with any luck perhaps humankind still stood some kind of chance.

Memori nodded, just a little introspective, but it was enough for Yuuki to cross the tamped-down dirt and settle himself next to Memori, draping an arms across drawn-up knees. Tilting his head, eyes warm in the dim light, Yuuki added quietly, "And if we die, that's better than waiting for death or living for nothing. Right?"

Memori nodded, and a small smile flickered over his face as he reached for Yuuki's hand - ice cold, from his walkabout - and gripped it in his own.

"If we die..."

And Yuuki's eyes were gentle.

"... There'll be two more stars in the sky."

The campfire flared, and lashes of light leap towards the dark.

* * *

**06.** _Fairytale_, Alexander Rybak

Seven years old... And man, what a cute kid he'd been! But even leaving aside all the extra problems in his life, the abandonment and the abuse and the insane-but-beautiful woman who cared for him, it wasn't like Yuuki'd meet The One then. First off, he was a kid. Secondly, he was already in love with Yuki-san.

Nothing weird about that.

Yup.

And not even that cute kid who looked like Yuki-san could change that.

Eighteen wasn't exactly the time for love, either- School, work, assassinations. That kid was back, somewhat less cute (and more willing to smack Yuuki in the face) but that was probably okay; guys shouldn't look like girls anyway, and Memori still did. Look like a girl, or rather, THE girl, which made things awkward for Yuuki whenever they were hanging out, or fighting, or just being around each other.

Probably not normal to look at a guy friend and think of the woman you loved.

Yeah.

Twenty-one... Well, that wasn't too bad a time to get involved. You were older, by then; Yuuki, at least, was better able to think about his life without wanting to bolt for a psychologist. And Memori had cut his hair short, which helped a lot, because now Yuuki could look at him without seeing Yuki-san's ghost.

And...

Now, Yuuki didn't see Miyuki-san any more.

When he looked at Memori, all Yuuki saw was the person he'd been searching for, whether he'd known it at the time or not.

* * *

**07.** _Honto no Kimochi_, yozuca*

Memori couldn't help but smile; after a rain, things always seemed different somehow. Fresher, cleaner... God knew that he could use some airing out about now.

Crazy things, all of it, but it was hard to remember this when everything was still sparkling with rain.

From behind him, he heard Ken arguing with 'Tousan about something or another, Himiko and 'Ka-san laughing at the foibles of 'the men.' Memori grinned to himself and shouted back into the house about going for a walk, grabbing an umbrella from the front shoe-shelf and heading out the door.

Outside, the ground was soft and living beneath his shoes; Memori could almost believe that this was how things had been in the beginning, as around him the countryside spread in all directions as a blanket of gently-rolling hills.

Shaking dark bangs form his eyes, Memori looked up at the stainless blue sky and wondered if Yuuki was seeing a sky like this right now. Of course, it might be night where Yuuki was; it might be sunset, or covered in storming clouds. A golden disk poured light onto the fallow soil, and Memori found himself hoping that, wherever he was, Yuuki could see the sun.

"Memori-chan, don't stare like that! You're gonna burn out your eyes or something!"

Memori's muscles froze up at the sound of That Voice, and he looked back down to earth too quickly; black shadows danced eerily across his field of sight, but his vision cleared in time to see a flash of blond hair and a white t-shirt pull him into a tight hug.

"Yuuki?" was all Memori managed, wondering if he'd really stared into the sun too long and somehow lost his mind. The arms felt real, though, clinging to him as though Memori had been the one to run off instead of Yuuki; the face buried in the crook of his neck - and dammit, Yuuki'd gotten even _taller_ - was smiling.

"H-Hey," mumbled Memori, nudging halfheartedly at Yuuki's chest. "You're all wet."

Yuuki positively _snuggled_ closer, and as if from a flipped switch Memori could feel his face suffused in a luminescent blush.

"... Idiot. Next time, use an umbrella."

* * *

**08.** _A-I-TSU_, dicot

Wake up in the morning: _'Hey, I wonder what Memori-chan's doing today.'_

Eating breakfast with Yuki-san: _'Heh, I bet Memori-chan can't even make breakfast either.'_

Schooltime, and heading out the door with a piece of toast as though he were some kind of character in a manga: _'Wait a second, isn't Memori-chan supposed to be the manga character here? Not that I wanna get that kind of-'_

Losing his train of thought because, as if summoned straight to the scene, Memori is in just the right place to knock them both over when Yuuki turns the corner _just_ a little too fast.

Yuuki picked himself up with a grin, not planning to grin but doing so anyway because hey... Memori-chan was here. That grumpy guy probably needed to see as many smiles as he could.

One day, Yuuki vowed, he'd take a couple of days off and go somewhere; they'd loved in him Kyoto, after all. There were a lot of pretty girls waiting for Yuuki Shin to come back for a week or so. Memori-chan would be fine on his own; he was a bodyguard, after all.

Somehow, Yuuki never got around to taking that 'time for himself', although he did eventually go to visit Kyoto, after coaxing Memori to go along for the ride.

* * *

**09.** _Otoko no Ko [heart] Onna no Ko_, Ogura Yuuko

_'Oh god, he's at it again.'_

On the one hand, Memori was relieved to see Yuuki again; he'd worried, more than once, that the idiot had gotten himself killed, or pissed off the wrong person, or gotten lost in the desert, or something equally as improbable. But as soon as Yuuki'd gotten a look at Sayako, he'd decided that she'd grown up into "a totally beautiful princess" and had commenced to hit on her in his own inimitable way.

Which, Memori was discovering, was really starting to piss him off, although he couldn't figure out WHY. Sayako, for her part, was fielding Yuuki's advances with the cool deadpan standard that was hers; Yuuki, grinning, was undeterred. After a few hours of this back-and-forth verbal duel, Memori abruptly stood and stormed out the door as though he were walking out on a divorce proceeding.

Behind him he could hear Sayako scolding Yuuki for something, but the words were already indistinct; he must have been more pissed off than he'd thought, because he was making pretty good time and was already on the last step before he heard Yuuki's footsteps behind him.

"Hey, Memori-chan! Don't lose your temper over something so small!"

"Who's losing their temper?" demanded Memori heatedly, before remembering that he was older, wiser, and not personally involved at all. Nope, it was none of his business if the first thing Yuuki wanted to do after his three-year absence was hit on their friend-slash-employer who was, it should be added, still a little _too_ young.

Nope, Memori wasn't bothered at all.

Clearing his throat, he asked "Did Sayako finally shoot you down for good?"

Yuuki laughed, and Memori could almost _see_ the shrug. "Kinda, but eh... My heart wasn't in it."

Yuuki's hands caught Memori's shoulders, and before Memori could throw him onto the concrete Yuuki had leaned down and pressed a teasing kiss to the curve of Memori's neck.

"Sayako-chan told me to go see the person I came back for, before he took it out on some poor innocent bystander."

* * *

**10.** _Sadistic Vampire_, ver. Usa [Um... Vampire A/U?]

_'There's no such thing as vampires.'_

_'There's no such thing as vampires.'_

_'There's no such thing as vampires.'_

Memori had been telling himself this for what seemed like forever, but which in reality had only been a few weeks. Since then - Since that Yuuki Shin had shown up in town, with his excessive charm and casual attitude and those eyes that seemed to haunt Memori's dreams...

Since then, Memori had found himself doubting what should have been common sense, had been forcing himself not to jump at every shadow and every breath of wind.

When there really _was_ a breath at his cheek, as cool as the winter wind, Memori would have started out of reflex had it not been for the ungloved hand running fondly through his hair.

"Memori-chan, what are you doing out of doors so late?" And Memori could almost see Yuuki's eyes, an amber almost gold and almost glowing in the darkness.

"It's not safe out here, you know."

"Not safe, huh?" And Memori put as much scoff into those words as he could muster, though there was a strange and not entirely unpleasant numbness spreading through his body, as though caused by Yuuki's simple presence. "Not safe how?"

"Mm..." And to Memori's abject shock, he felt Yuuki's mouth lower to the exposed skin where shoulder met neck, with a little nip that would have sent Memori running had he not been caught in a grip more powerful than the one he'd thought Yuuki's lanky frame could muster.

"There are dangerous people out here, Memori-chan; dangerous people like me."

And before Memori could react to that bizarre statement, to wonder if he'd wind up dead after all, something sharp punctured the flesh at the base of his neck with choking force, sparking a flash of pain that was quickly eclipsed by a rush of pleasure that spun Memori out into the darkness.

Yuuki caught Memori's limp form in a single smooth motion, arms encircling Memori's body in a tender embrace made both much less and much more as sharp teeth drew red from pale skin.

The next evening, Yuuki awoke first; Memori, still exhausted from the Embrace, slept on beside his creator, and Yuuki smiled sweetly in the half-light, golden eyes picking out the dark wreath of Memori's hair, the line of Memori's body beneath the heavy covers. If one had seen his expression, they might have even believed that what he'd done had been an act of love.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Incidentally, at some point I may or may not be elaborating on some of those story-seeds, so... Yeah.


End file.
